1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to conferencing systems, and more particularly to a control unit for a multipoint audio and or multimedia conference.
2. Description of Prior Art
In current audio conferences or videoconferences, a participant is an entity that can participate in a single conference (i.e., the participant can speak or listen to the same conference). However, often a participant needs to speak to one group but during the same time, may need to listen to another group.
An example for such a need is a conference with two groups of people who don't speak the same language and need translators. For instance, a scenario with a group of English speaking individuals, E1 to En, a second group of French speaking individuals, F1 to Fm, a translator from English to French (EF) and a translator for French to English (FE). In such a case, the participants of the conference may desire to have the following conferences: conference A with participants E1 to En, F1 to Fm, and FE and conference B with participants E1 to En, F1 to Fm, and EF.
The French-speaking individual may want to listen to conference B and the English speaking individuals may want to listen to Conference A. As a result, only the English speaking individuals will hear the FE translator, and the French speaking individuals will hear the EF translator. Another example in which participants of a conference may desire to have more than one conference is if some of the participants want a “Private Room” in which a first group of participants can hear a second group of participants, while chatting among themselves without being heard by the second group of participants.
An Multipoint Control Units (MCU) is a conference controlling entity. the MCU may be a piece of equipment located in a node of the network or in a terminal that receives several channels from access ports and, according to certain criteria, processes audiovisual signals and distributes them to connected channels. An example of an MCU is MGC-100, which is available from Polycom, Inc. The MCU for audio/multimedia conference may receive channels according to H.320 (an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standard), H.323 (an ITU standard), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or similar protocol, process the audio signals and distribute them to connected channels, and may be used for controlling a conference. However, current MCUs cannot fulfill the needs of those individuals desiring multiple conferences such as the examples given above.
Therefore, it is evident that there is a need for a system and a method, which enables one or more participants to take part in more than one conference.